One of the problems associated with the use of sanitary napkins has been their disposal. Used napkins are unattractive and can be messy. Attempts to provide disposal aids have generally followed one of two directions. The first of these involves the use of a bag or bag-like attachment affixed to or as part of a sanitary napkin. Examples of various embodiments of this approach can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,182,336; 3,604,423 and 3,274,999.
The self-contained bag has been unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. The self-contained bag is on the bottom of the napkin and therefore must, by its nature, interfere with adhesive attachment of the napkin to the panty. Also, a napkin with such a self-contained bag is both expensive and difficult to manufacture.
Another alternative involves the utilization of adhesive areas at the longitudinal ends of the garment facing side of the napkin. These adhesive areas may be covered by an extension or an added element and after the napkin is used, it is rolled into a tightly wound cylinder with the adhesive tab being used to fasten the roll. This approach, while simpler from a manufacturing standpoint, still involves the use of a separate tab and the user of the napkin must touch the soiled napkin to be able to roll it. Also, extremely thick napkins are difficult to roll because of limited flexibility. The pressure involved in rolling a napkin can, in certain instances provide for fluid "strikeback" through the wrapper of the napkin. For this reason a disposal system of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,945 has met with little success.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,742,903 and 4,072,151 have a structure which places adhesive on the body-facing side of the sanitary napkin for direct attachment to the wearer.